Indie Work Showcase: The Work Behind Back-to-Back Best of Show
March 10 @ 9:30 am – 10:00 am PDT
Fire Kite launched in late 2024 out of Franklin, Tennessee. By early 2025, they were the most-awarded agency at the Nashville AAF Awards. By 2026, they did it again — Best of Show two years running plus 6 Golds, 7 Silvers, a Judge’s Choice and Best of Broadcast. The work spans Charity: water’s Sleep for Water campaign (which framed the math: if everyone donated 10 cents per hour of sleep, the global water crisis could end in a year), Vaulted’s King Tut campaign (which drove a 200% increase in account signups and trade volume) and McAlvany Financial’s Wealth Insurance campaign (which planted a fake UFO abduction insurance ad in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal). All of it made by a small indie shop with a Ben Franklin obsession and zero interest in playing it safe.
Alex Goulart is the Founder and Executive Creative Director of Fire Kite. Before launching the agency, he spent 20+ years as a copywriter and creative director at BBDO New York, 180 Amsterdam, TBWA/Chiat/Day and Arts & Letters Creative Co., working on Google, Nissan, PlayStation and Maker’s Mark. On this show, Alex walks through the creative process behind the work that won — from the brief to the strategy to the production choices (handmade animation, custom music, AI, CGI and LED wall production with Nashville partners Cumberland Creative, Gear Seven and Emberscope). Alex shares what surprised him along the way and closes with advice on how to sell audacious work to clients who are trained to choose the safe option.
Who Should Watch:
– Agency founders building creative reputations from scratch
– Creative directors looking to push clients past safe choices
– Brand and client-side marketers who want to hear the agency-client story told together
– Production leaders integrating AI, CGI and traditional craft in campaigns
– Anyone who believes blending in is the riskiest move a brand can make
